Friday, November 21, 2008

Todays' News


I'm very happy with this recent news!

Boston Globe said..."WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton has decided to give up her Senate seat and accept the position of secretary of state"

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Ritual


Sorry for the long delay in posting.

I hope you all are doing well and adjusting to this fall weather with the time change and new President-elect! yea!

I have been thinking about rituals lately and thought i'd post my thoughts on that subject.

Recently I attended a wake and funeral. I also attended two bonfires. One of them was to burn old paperwork of my friends' mom who died.

Rituals of all sorts are interesting to me.

We all have our own rituals, even if we don't realize it.

There is something that we may do every day without thinking twice about it. Maybe we wake up and the first thing we do is brush our teeth? Maybe it's feeding the animals? Maybe its putting on reading glasses? Then the rituals go deeper and become more personal. Some people pray or meditate when they wake up, or write in a journal. Whatever it is, it's a ritual.

Ritual can be such a loaded word. Ritual can mean religion to many people, or a cult even.

I watched one of my favorite movies last night called Baraka. I highly recommend it! Part of the movie shows different cultures using ritual. Praying in a certain way to a certain God or Goddess. Honoring a sacred item by kissing it or rubbing it or cleaning it. Bowing down in front of an altar or in front of a statue.

How did rituals begin? Some person at some time in history decided that a particular way of doing something was of significance. Was it during some horrible plague or famine? Was it during a time of strong religion that rituals were formed? Was it to honor the elements and cycles of the moon?

Obviously I could write about ritual forever. I just wanted to touch on it. To recognize that there are cultures all over the world that dance or pray or honor some spirit or God in some way. We all have the desire to honor something or someone in our lives and we all do it differently. Even if you don't believe in a God or a Higher Power, I bet there is something that you do to honor someone that has passed on or to honor the people in your lives right now.

Last Wednesday was the marking of my boyfriend Stuarts' death. Nine years ago he died. I wanted to honor that day by going to the climbing tree we had climbed so long ago. I wanted to do so many things but didn't. I ended up just putting up his picture in a place where I could see it better. I thought of the happy memories I have of him. I played a song that reminded me of him. That was my ritual this week.

This is a time of death and dying. The leaves are falling, the wind is howling, the air is cold and crisp.

After the death and dying phase there is rebirth and growth.

This time of year is important but it can also be challenging.

For there has to be death in order to have rebirth. As child labor can be painful and scary, so can death.

It's appropriate that the Presidential election is during this time as well. It is a time of change, the metaphorical dying of one way of thinking or acting to another way of looking at things. A new administration may bring a rebirth of sorts that we are all craving right now.

What rituals do you have in your life?